At Dome Construction, we’re excited to share the news about eMOD, a brand-new, game-changing, safety platform. eMOD is designed to create and improve transparency, accountability, and safety for Dome, our trade partners, and our clients. This new technology was developed by a team of Dome employees brought together from all levels and departments of the company. Originally created to offer the construction industry a much needed safety solution.

Rob Lynch, CEO of Dome Construction, describes the importance of eMOD, calling it “a dynamic, evolving and transparent web-based application for use by those closest to harm’s way and closest to the work—field crews.” This app has the potential to revolutionize the way construction and development companies around the world communicate and oversee safety procedures. It cuts down on cumbersome paper work while keeping our valued employees safer than ever.

The eMOD app is the result of years of hard work from our committed development team. In 2016, it became clear that the institutionalized, paper-heavy safety processes we had in place were not meeting our standards. With our old system, there was little transparency between field crews and offices, certifications and trainings were difficult to track, and filing daily documentation was an unneeded burden. When we couldn’t find a digital system that met all of our needs, we decided to make our own. And eMOD was born!

In early 2017, an internal team was gathered, and we hired a developer to help make our vision possible. It took two years to bring the app into being. During that time, our team also conducted market research and confirmed that what we were building uniquely filled a need in the construction industry. Our research proved that many other companies were looking for just the kind of software we were developing. So in late 2018, we established BuildSafely as a separate entity, created to market our new software outside of the Dome family.

After two years of development and testing, in September of 2019, eMOD was successfully launched. The current version boasts a comprehensive set of capabilities including Safety Orientation and Onboarding, Toolbox Talks, Pre-Task Planning, Job Hazard Analysis, User Profiles & Certificates, Safety Audits, Incident Reporting, and Dashboard. Currently, eMOD has been completely implemented across all of Dome and is now being rolled out to our subcontractors.

Kaitlin Frank, a member of the eMOD development team and BuildSafely, highlights what makes eMOD unique. “It’s built for the field by the field”—and she has a point. As a superintendent at Dome Construction, Kaitlin understood that this kind of safety app needed to be designed by the people who best understood the problem: those who use these tools and procedures every day. The eMOD team recognized the need for transparency between job site and office, and they wanted to make it a reality. In the past, it was a challenge to know if and how paperwork was being handled. That all changed with the development of eMOD. Now field crews and office staff alike are up-to-date and in communication concerning all levels of safety protocols. “We’re not another tech company,” Frank clarifies. “We’ve been here; we’ve done the work. That’s why we know exactly what the technology needs to boost safety while streamlining oversight.”

“Our vision was to leverage technology to facilitate safety at the most impactful moment—immediately prior to work execution,” says Lynch. Before eMOD, safety planning was static & opaque; now it evolves with field teams’ needs and its transparency allows cross-functional communication. “We knew we needed to bring our safety processes into the 21st century,” says Bobby Marshall, a member of the development team, “and we were aware that building this platform could fill a need in the market. But most importantly, we as a development team knew that safety in the field is critical, and we wanted to build software that could help. We wanted to do that, and we wanted to do it well.”

In early March of this year when the global COVID-19 pandemic begin effecting jobsites around the country, eMOD worked diligently to create new features that could be used on site to maintain compliance with state and local orders—and eliminate the use of high-touch things like binders, clipboards, and pens. The COVID-19 features that have been incorporated into eMOD allow for contract tracing, speedy screening and jobsite entry, cloud-based documentation, and customizable COVID-19 safety audits. As things are continuously evolving, the eMOD team is staying abreast with regulatory sites, like the CDC, local and state authorities, and OSHA so they can make educated and informed decisions as things change.

Here is a list of NEW COVID-19 specific features:

  • COVID-19 JHA Uploads
  • COVID-19 Employee Survey / Checklist
  • COVID-19 Cleaning Checklist
  • COVID-19 Toolbox Talks
  • COVID-19 Hazards and Safe Plans
  • COVID-19 Safety Audits and Observations

Since the roll-out of eMOD, the positive reviews have been pouring in. “It’s been exciting to see how people use it,” says Frank. “The guys in the field are happy with it.” The new app makes paperwork organized and searchable, and it pre-populates forms, making it easier and faster for teams on the ground to run daily safety protocols. Insurance carrier Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has called eMOD “a game changer” for field safety.

“We’re excited about the future of eMOD” says Frank. “Our goal is to have a complete safety platform that covers everything a team needs.” With an industry that has gone almost entirely paperless, it was time for safety to catch up. That’s just what eMOD and BuildSafely plan to do.